Before joining "UnREAL," Natasha Wilson loved watching reality dating shows so much that her friends even thought about signing her up for one.

"My girlfriends were like, 'We're going to nominate you! You're a perfect candidate. You'll meet these amazing men. You get to live in this huge mansion. It's like being on vacation,'" Wilson told Headlines & Global News in an exclusive interview.

Instead, she auditioned for the role of Maya, one of the women competing to win the heart of the dashing Englishman, Adam (Freddie Stroma), on the fictional reality series, "Everlasting."  The Lifetime series was inspired by creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro's time as a producer on ABC's "The Bachelor."

"The idea was so original that it was difficult to wrap my head around," Wilson said about reading the script. As a fan of reality dating shows, she was disappointed by the level of scripting and manipulation that goes into their production.

"I love watching these dating competition shows and thought, 'What could not be real about it?' I actually bought the idea, so that fascinated me. It was more of an education."

"UnREAL," a scripted drama, goes behind-the-scenes to show how the producers receive bonuses for creating drama and how they revel in starting catfights or making the women cry. Wilson wouldn't go so far as to sympathize with these women who volunteer to join such a contentious environment, but she does understand how they can crack under the pressure.

"These people are isolated completely from society. They leave their kids behind, their families, their workplace, their town, and they all travel to the middle of nowhere with a bunch of other women who've done the same thing. Everything is at stake," she said.

Wilson also thinks the women put too much faith in the man they're hoping to marry if they win the competition.

"They're trying to meet this man who's going to fix all their problems in the world and it's all on this one man to create this big, beautiful life for this woman," she said. "They have bought in for the sake of finding love and the man of their dreams. They let everything fall behind them to take off on this journey. So in that sense I do feel for them."

Much like viewers of "The Bachelor," Wilson and her co-stars would discuss their characters motivations and speculate on what they would do in a similar situation on the show. She would try to not read through the scripts until the table read, but some of her fellow actors just couldn't wait.

"Some of the actors would get the script ahead of time and they'd say, "Ooo, you're going to go through some stuff!" It was always exciting in that sense," Wilson said. "There was never any competition of like, 'Oh you have a better arc or character.' It was always, 'Wow, that's interesting. How do you think you'd react?'"

Her character Maya didn't react much at all when she exited a room half-dressed leaving behind Adam's childhood friend Roger (Tom Brittney) who took advantage of her less-than-sober state in the third episode. The traumatic event will influence Maya's actions later on this season.

"It still lives in her and that event does color some of her decisions and choices," Wilson said. "It does have an effect on who she is, what she becomes, how she faces the situation and the choices that she makes as it evolves."

Less upsetting for Maya and her fellow contestants was learning how to ballroom dance, a skill that was easier for the actress to learn on the fly thank to her background in dance and theater. The occasional toe mashing only added to the reality of the scene.

"It's fun because in real life, not everyone knows how to do that. So you'll have the better dancers and then others stepping on people's toes. It's actually more honest to all of a sudden having to start ballroom dancing," Wilson said.

What really tripped up the actors was figuring out which cameramen were for "UnREAL" and which were for the fictional "Everlasting."

"There were so many people at all times and trying to coordinate and keep track of everything was difficult because we also had a fake crew and a real crew," Wilson explained. "So for the first three episodes we didn't know which ones were real cameras and which ones weren't."

"UnREAL" will continue to throw curveballs for all its characters until Adam chooses the one for an "epic wedding" in the season finale.

"The show takes so many twists, don't have your heart set on any of the decisions yet," Wilson said. "Honestly, watch every episode and by the end, it's a total 180."

"UnREAL" airs on Mondays at 10 p.m. on Lifetime.